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JazJon

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 14, 2008
35
3
My goal is to only have one single cable to plug into my iphone when I get into my car with the following connections.

>on one end - 30pin to plug into the bottom of the iphone

>on the other end - USB to charge, and mini jack audio
(or RCA cables I can convert to mini jack)


If I buy one the AV cables will it disable the iphone screen while plugged in? I want it to not affect the iphone in any way, and just pass the audio/power.

more details:
I have a 2008 BMW 335i that supports the iphone.
(it has a short 30 pin cable that splits into usb/mini jack audio, AND auto power if i wanted to use that instead of USB) in the center council flip up

Two problems though.

1) when you plug into the BMW iphone cable, the iphone screen is disabled (accessory in use) and you can only control it through the Car's idrive screen which isnt great, and also doesn’t allow me to play non itunes audio!

2) the bmw cable is too short at only like 12 inches long. I want to place my phone into a dash car mount which means any cable needs to be at least 3 or 4 feet long

I want one single cable with a 30 pin connection on one side and usb + audio mini jack (or RCA cables I can convert to mini jack) on the other end.

Is it possible to find something that works?

even more details:
I had an idea to use a normal USB extension cable, and normal mini jack extension cable. I then split open the plastic shield of the USB cable and exposed 4 wires.
http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml
2 are data and 2 are power. I cut the data wires. (leaving USB 5 volt power only) Ok, so now this kind of works. I'm getting all iphone audio to my car, and the iphone shows it's charging, but for some reason the iphone wont actually charge!, even though it shows a charge signal! (so I've given up this method)

Anyone, anyone?

For example, would this cable work in my car for charge/audio?
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14395
or
http://www.amazon.com/Composite-Iphone-Firmware-Version-Classic/dp/B001PPOK50

(or will it disable my iphone screen?)


How about the Kensington Liquid Aux? Will this disable my screen once plugged in? (requiring the remote control it comes with)
http://us.kensington.com/html/14492.html
 
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When you plug this in can you still see and control the iphone screen or does it go into a locked accessory mode?

I might try this cable and add a modified 6" USB extension cable with the 2 data wires cut. (leaving the 2 power wires only)

I'm hoping something like this would then allow me to charge my iphone and feed audio to the aux jack of the center council.
 
I own the Composite one, the first screen is when you are delivering musit, the second is the svideo out, the 3rd is the settings app.
You could still use the phone when you deliver audio, but not when you deliver video because if you quit the app you will stop the video.
 

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Thanks, so what would happen to the iphone screen if I used OrbLive to watch TV? Would the video still play on the iPhone screen or would it only output to the composite video cable (which I'll never have hooked up since I only want audio)
 
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